911 oops: Emergency pocket dials seemingly on the rise in Marblehead

Chris Stevens marblehead@wickedlocal.com @MheadReporter

Wednesday

Jul 11, 2018 at 10:16 AMJul 11, 2018 at 3:44 PM

Pocket dials, a.k.a. when your cell phone mysteriously manages to call someone without your knowledge, have become a way of life in this technological age, and many calls are going to the police station.

The number of accidental/pocket 911 calls to the Marblehead Police Station have seemingly increased over the last year. Police Chief Robert Picariello said although he has not been tracking the numbers, an increase would not surprise him.

“If you’re in Marblehead and you dial (911) from a cell phone it will come directly to us,” he said, adding, “Presumably. It’s not a perfect system.”

Picariello said they will occasionally still field a call from Salem or another nearby community, but the system has gotten much better. Wireless 911 calls have not always been a direct dial to MPD. In the past all 911 calls made from cell phones went to the Massachusetts State Police and were then transferred to the appropriate first responder.

Since that change Picariello said there has definitely been an uptick in accidental 911 calls, but he is not sure if it represents an overall increase.

“We weren’t getting the (cell phone) calls before so I have nothing to measure it against,” he said.

Police logs reflect one, two and sometimes up to six pocket dials or accidental 911 calls per day, which may not seem like a lot in the big picture; however, police respond to every call regardless.

“We’ll call back and then we respond [in person], always,” Picariello said.

Picariello said the reason they respond is because they actually don’t know why the call was made and they are not going to accept a voice over the phone telling them everything is fine.

“More than once we’ve gotten there and found out we are really needed,” he said. “That’s why we feel it’s best practice for us to always try to respond.”

Picariello said it becomes a little more challenging when the call doesn’t originate from a home but from a crowded venue, like the Fourth of July Horribles Parade or a street fair or any large venue. While dispatch might know the location of the call, it can’t pinpoint it exactly.

Picariello said in instances like that, when they respond, if there is no obvious incident the best they can do is make sure the public sees them.

“But if no one is waving at us or call us over … you do your best,” he said.

Many times people don’t realize they’ve made the call. According to police logs, a call came in on July 5 at 8:27 a.m. and when police responded no one at the home knew who made the call, accidental or otherwise.

“We surprise a lot of people when we show up to talk to them and they’re maybe out for a walk,” Picariello said. “But it’s not the worst thing in the world to talk to people and make that connection.”

That said, not everyone is happy to make that connection.

Six accidental calls were logged on July 3, and one came from a man who was on the waterfront. According to the log, when police called back and told the man they would be responding he told them they better hurry because he wasn’t sticking around.

“We’ll put eyes on you if we can,” Picariello said. “And once in a while it aggravates people when we show up.”

Picariello said he is not sure how the pocket dials happen or if there are settings that might thwart them.

“Then again, you want it to be kind of easy to call,” he said. “You don’t want to have to go through seven steps if you’re in trouble, and it doesn’t happen so much that it’s bothersome.”

According to the Federal Communications Commission, accidental 911 calls can cause public safety personnel and resources to be diverted from real emergencies. The FCC also lists two things people can do to avoid making accidental wireless 911 call:

-Many older wireless phones are equipped with a pre-activated 911 auto-dial feature, which can lead to accidental dialing of 911. That feature can be deactivated. Check the manufacturer’s information to find out how.

-You can help also reduce accidental 911 calls by locking your keypad.